Bebop Spoken There

Ludovic Beier (Django Festival Allstars): ''Manouche means 'free man,' and gypsies have been travelers since they migrated west from India to Europe.'' (DownBeat March, 2026)

The Things They Say!

This is a good opportunity to say thanks to BSH for their support of the jazz scene in the North East (and beyond) - it's no exaggeration to say that if it wasn't for them many, many fine musicians, bands and projects across a huge cross section of jazz wouldn't be getting reviewed at all, because we're in the "desolate"(!) North. (M & SSBB on F/book 23/12/24)

Postage

18383 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 247 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Mar. 17 ), 57

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

From This Moment On

March

Mon 30: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm.
Mon 30: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 31: Bede Trio @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Albert Hills Wright (alto sax); Finn Carter (piano); Michael Dunlop (double bass).

April

Wed 01: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 01: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 01: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 02: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Musicians playing classical & orchestral music.
Thu 02: The Noel Dennis Band @ Prohibition Bar, Albert Road, Middlesbrough TS1 2RU. 7:00pm (doors). £10.84. Quartet plus special guest Zoë Gilby. Over 21s only.
Thu 02: Renegade Brass Band @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 02: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00. adv..
Thu 02: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Take It To The Bridge at the Chillingham

Monday night, Mark Williams was at the Side with Zoe and, lo and behold, two days later he's taken it to the bridge. Well you can never get too much of a good thing and Mark hit the ground running on the opening Charlie Parker number "Au Privave"; Dave scatted this one. Ian Forbes on drums kept things moving along with Barry Ashcroft once again playing bass.
"There Is No Greater Love" brought Nicola on to the stand and she got a big, juicy sound from her baritone sax. Both horns blew well on "Solar"
As the evening progressed, fellow guitarist Daniel, spelled Mark before handing over to Felix who isn't called Felix but gets called Felix by Dave who is called Dave and David Carnegie chained himself to the empty keyboard stool for a belting "Killer Joe". David also brought in a chart for a Sam Rivers tune called "Beatrice". I'd never heard it before but it was an appealing tune with some nice changes. "Blue Bossa" had Dave blowing flugel before chanteuse Lindsey Hannon got up and laid down some blues in Bb.
(Good job I didn't put a full stop after 'laid down'!)
Shame it had to finish at 11 pm.

3 comments :

Paul Edis said...

Beatrice is a great tune - I haven't played it for ages. Does Felix know the Entertainer?

Anonymous said...

Hi Lance

A couple of years ago I heard Lewis Watson play at the Saville Exchange on the night that the genius that was George Best died.On the night Lewis with then regular band mates Ken Marley and Adrian Tilbrook played a string of great tunes including extended work-outs of Beatrice and dedicated to the great man Best a wonderful version of A Weaver of Dreams.I didn't know Lewis was a football fan.His performance that night lives on in the memory.A great gig!

Russell

Lance said...

Man You will never guess who he supports!

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